7 minutes
What we actually mean Natural supports are chosen people, not a blank that paid staff get to fill with a relative’s nights.
What you’ll be able to do Identify the practical implication of “What we actually mean” and apply it to one live DHS decision connected to Family and Natural Support Systems. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What should happen before the work is locked? Document a next step for What we actually mean: Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed. The person is at the table. Family is at the table because they were asked — not because they are the default staff. Minimization in this work: family is a staffing plan. Adaptation: ask who they want, name unpaid hours, put paid support on the page. This course does not assign a score.
Why this is a leadership course Minnesota person-centered practice says we build and keep relationships with family and friends, and we use natural supports so a person can live the life they want. Teams still write “mom will do nights” without asking mom. Teams still leave a friend out of the meeting because they are “not legal.” Teams still treat a guardian as the only relative who counts.
If family is only named when we need unpaid hours, we did not honor a circle. We used it. This course is the staff job: ask who they want, name what unpaid people actually do, and put paid support and respite on the page before someone burns out.
In this lesson Separate a chosen circle from a staffing assumption.
Name unpaid work as work — not love that never needs rest.
Hold family as support without handing them a veto.
Own the staff job: ask, name, and do not dump.
If we write a mother’s nights into the plan without asking her, we did not honor family. We used her.
Key terms Natural supports
People already in the life — family, friends, neighbors, faith, chosen family. Unpaid. Chosen. Not a vendor. Not a default night shift.
The circle they name
Who they want in the meeting, on the call, at the hospital. Blood is not automatic. A roommate or a friend can be closer than a parent they do not want in the room.
Unpaid work
Nights, rides, meds, translation, the 2 a.m. call. If it is in the plan, it is work. Work needs a yes, a limit, and a rest.
Respite
Paid time so unpaid people can stop. If respite is “we’ll see,” the plan is hoping a relative never gets sick.
What sits with you versus specialists You own the ask and the page You decide whether “family will handle it” is allowed to stand without a yes, whether a friend can be in the meeting, and whether respite is a sentence or a service.
Specialists support the path Use caregiver coaching, Disability Hub, respite, and CFSS/CDCS when they fit. Bring them in. Do not use them as a reason to skip the ask.
They should not have to earn their people A circle is not a prize for compliance. Isolation is not a teaching method.
If the calendar only works because someone unpaid never sleeps, the plan is not a plan. It is a hope. Where teams drop the person The dump The shutout The veto The empty chair
“Mom will do it.” Mom was not in the meeting. The nights were not counted. That is staffing by silence.
A friend they want is “not family.” A sibling is “too involved.” The person named them. We left them in the hallway.
A parent speaks over the adult. We take the parent’s no as the plan. Guardianship is not ownership of every hour.
No family. We write “no natural supports” and stop looking. Neighbors, faith, chosen family, a coworker still exist — or paid support has to be real, not a shrug.
Chosen circle, unpaid work, or a dump? They name a friend to sit in the meeting.
Choose a category Chosen circle Named unpaid work Dump or shutout A brother agrees to Sunday rides, written with a backup.
Choose a category Chosen circle Named unpaid work Dump or shutout “Family will handle nights” with no yes on the page.
Choose a category Chosen circle Named unpaid work Dump or shutout Respite hours authorized because the sister asked for rest.
Choose a category Chosen circle Named unpaid work Dump or shutout A chosen partner left in the lobby because they are “not legal.”
Choose a category Chosen circle Named unpaid work Dump or shutout Check matches Reset Next: the pattern — how we still use family as unpaid staff, or shut them out after promising a person-centered life.
Put this lesson to work What you can change You control whether what we actually mean changes a live DHS process connected to Family and Natural Support Systems or remains information on a page.
What to watch for The team completes the learning, keeps the same default, assigns no owner, and never checks who carries the burden.
Your next step Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Carry this forward Natural supports are chosen people, not a blank that paid staff get to fill with a relative’s nights.
You control whether what we actually mean changes a live DHS process connected to Family and Natural Support Systems or remains information on a page.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Completion is shown by a scenario decision, a knowledge-check response, a completed sort and a saved one-minute commitment.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
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Reset this lesson
Course overview Next lesson Carry this into practice Family is not a staffing plan — ask who they want, name the unpaid work, put respite on the page.
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
